Return Home for Men's Tennis Ruined by Falcons

SAN ANTONIO – St. Mary's Men's Tennis sophomore Alvaro Soler continued to play well against Lone Star Conference opposition, winning at both singles and doubles on Friday against UT Permian Basin, but the Rattlers found themselves on the short end in the scoring column, 5-2.
 
Soler, hailing from Alicante, Spain, improved to 5-1 in conference action with his 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 1 singles, while he and senior Sebastian Azcui (La Paz, Bolivia) won in a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles, 7-6 (4).
 
"We really needed the doubles point today," said Director of Tennis Bill Macom. "UTPB is a very deep singles team. We were just one break of serve away from a singles win in three of the matches, so that's why doubles is so crucial."
 
The Falcons (11-8, 3-2 Lone Star) won both the doubles points at No. 1 and No. 2 to grab the early lead and they never relinquished it.
 
Junior Nicolas Llosa (Lima, Peru) won the second point for the Rattlers (10-9, 1-6 Lone Star) with his three-set victory at No. 6. Llosa dropped the opening stanza in a tiebreaker, 7-3, but bounced back to win the next two sets 6-2 and 10-8 in international doubles format to move to 5-1 this season at #6.
 
The Rattlers turn around and host Western New Mexico on Saturday at 9 a.m. Following the match, before the start of the women's, Azcui and fellow senior Carlos Franco (Hidalgo, Texas) will be honored.